Remembrance
by Twin Elms
Summary: Ienzo has no memories of his past as a nobody, until a strange man disrupts the normality of his present life. Now, Ienzo struggles with the visions of his previous self as he attempts to reconnect with the other apprentices once again. This is his third chance to make amends. Will he choose to follow a better path, or plunge back into the sweet familiarity of darkness?
1. Chapter 1

All he wanted to do was write. The keys gave under the tips of his fingers as they glided across the keyboard in fluent, rapid motions. There was a story trapped inside his mind that begged to be told. Ienzo's heart fluttered, and a slight smile lit up his cheeks. He felt at peace within the familiarity of his imagination and the words that gilded the screen. The music that he had chosen for the occasion fit well into the story he was writing out.

Then, quite suddenly, a man pulled out the chair that was in front of him. At first, Ienzo dismissed the man; many students nabbed extra empty chairs for their friends in the cafeteria. It was an everyday occurrence, especially during the afternoon. But, the strange man simply took a seat in front of him.

Ienzo felt anxiety creep into his skin and make his stomach flip. The man was gazing at him, unnervingly calculating, yet soft. Since he had decided to sit at Ienzo's table, he felt obligated to engage with him. Ienzo tried to ignore his disappointment as he plucked his earbuds out and rolled them between his fingers nervously.

"Hello." Ienzo spoke softly.

The man smiled pleasantly. "Hello. I hope you don't mind. It's very crowded here." He gestured to the rest of the room, which was filled with students going about their own casual business. Some were eating fervently, while others were too occupied with their textbooks to bother lifting their heads. It was the usual, somewhat comforting chaos that one would expect two weeks before college finals.

"It's okay." Ienzo shrugged. He returned to his writing without so much of a sideways glance at the man, but he knew that he was still watching him intently. He tried to make himself feel somewhat smaller under the man's golden hued eyes.

"Are you working on a project?" The man piped up, nearly causing Ienzo to flinch.

"Ah, no." He said, shyly. He saved his work and shut his laptop. "I um," Ienzo gulped, suddenly filled with the need to get away from the man and the cafeteria altogether. The man made him feel entirely uneasy. It felt like his body was screaming at him to get away, but he did not understand why. "I have a class soon, so I-I have to go."

He shoved his arms into the straps of his backpack and got to his feet. Before he could get away with his laptop under his arm, the man grabbed his wrist. Ienzo froze, his heart beating hard and fast. The entire room seemed to freeze as time slowed down between the two of them. Ienzo's steely gray eyes locked on to the man's own. Without saying anything, the man loosened his grasp on Ienzo, but he did not let go. His calloused fingers pressed gently against the underside of Ienzo's wrist, where his frantic pulse beat in a steady, quick rhythm. The man smiled once again, as if he knew something that Ienzo did not.

"Do not go far, Ienzo."

0-0-0

That night, Ienzo lay in the darkness of his room and shuddered when he thought about the man. How had he known Ienzo's name? He could not shake the strange feeling of familiarity that the man radiated. His calculating eyes observing Ienzo's every movement still flickered in his mind, consistent and permanent since he had met the man. Ienzo could feel his anxiety build with the very thought of what had happened, so he turned onto his side and hugged himself tightly under the bedcovers. He closed his eyelids and tried to even his breathe, focusing on the elevation and decompression of his lungs until his muscles relaxed.

When he reopened them, he panicked and jumped up, sitting stock still against the headboard. There, in the pitch blackness, were two bright, beady eyeballs. They flicked back and forth as the creature swayed in place. Its claws were as sharp as talon's and its feet shuffled side-to-side. Then, the odd little beast sunk into the floor and disappeared. Ienzo's breathing picked up; he felt like he was gasping. He flinched violently when he noticed that the darkness inside his bedroom was moving like a living being, waiting to strike. The walls rolled and danced with new life, and a dozen yellow spots lit up the room.

Ienzo leapt from the bed and braced himself against the opposite wall. He fumbled for the light switch and, once it was upturned, fluorescent light brightened the room. Ienzo whipped around and saw nothing unusual any longer. The strange creatures were gone, but he had a feeling that they were still somewhere near, waiting for their chance to strike in the dark once again. Ienzo collapsed in a heap against his bedroom door, shaking and terrified.

He kept the lights on the rest of the night.

0-0-0

After such a horrifying, sleepless night, Ienzo was too exhausted to bear writing at school the next day. Instead of going to the cafeteria, he stuck to his classes and did not linger between them. He ducked between the halls with his head down and kept to himself, as he usually did. He did not want to risk running into that man. If he did, he knew that everything he thought he understood would change.

0-0-0

At first, he thought he was imagining it, but he saw the creatures with claws in every dark corner or under-table. They were watching him, he realized. They were waiting for the perfect, darkest moment to attack. Ienzo made sure he had a light, wherever he went, to keep the darkness at bay. He had never felt so terrified in his entire life.

0-0-0

The days after his encounter with the man were filled with darting eyes and paranoid glances around his classrooms. His anxiety was worse than ever, and it only continued to get awful as the hours slowly dragged by. His fellow classmates sent annoyed stares his way, and Ienzo quickly realized that they could not see the monsters that were following him. He was on his own.

Then, during his advanced literature class one afternoon, a thunderstorm brewed outside. The entire humanities sector shook as the sky darkened and rumbled fiercely. Ienzo felt abruptly trapped within the concrete walls of the room; there were no windows to let in any natural light if the power happened to fail during the storm.

He tapped his pencil against his desk unnervingly. The professor's lecture faded from his thoughts as the lights waned for a moment. Ienzo felt his heart slow. In the slight seconds of darkness that had followed, he had seen several of the creatures skitter across the floor, faces locked on only him, bodies poised to leap at any moment. Ienzo gasped and jumped up from his seat in blind panic, capturing the attention of everyone in the room.

The professor eyed him silently. Ienzo's face paled, and he whispered something dismissive as he rushed from the room and into the hallway. He ran down the empty corridor quickly. Alarms were blaring in his mind: he had to get out of the school. He turned into a different section of the campus, which most of the students and staff considered the central hub. The library was on his left, and straight ahead was the cafeteria. He wondered if the man was there, waiting for him.

Before he could decide where to go next, the power flicked off, and darkness overwhelmed him. He froze in the middle of the hall. The ringing in his ears rose higher and higher, until it he could hardly bear it. He pressed his palms over his ears as his head started to pound. In the empty space surrounding him, the darkness warped and rolled in erratic waves. The creatures began to rise up as one; the room was alive with countless eyes, all focused on him. Their stout little forms wavered with impatience.

"Ienzo!" A gruff, urgent voice called out from behind him. He whipped around and saw none other than the man from days ago, silhouetted in an archway past the army of creatures.

Ienzo simply stared at him, too afraid to speak. One of the creatures lashed out at his leg. Ienzo nearly doubled over in pain. His leg throbbed as blood poured from the wound and soaked his clothing. He hobbled backward, his anxiety lifting all the while.

Distantly, he realized that the man was slowly making his way through the mob. He cut through them with ease as he swung his oddly shaped blades in a wide arch. However, the attacks seemed to be in vain; the beasts kept reappearing, stronger and faster than before. Ienzo lurched sideways when another one thrust forward, claws aimed at his face. Soon, it seemed like each one of them were trying to get a good hit in. They swarmed him in a swath of darkness, completely robbing him of his vision. Ienzo's knees gave out and he crumpled to the floor in a heap. Their claws were all over him now, tearing through his sweater and ripping apart his flesh.

"Zexion!"

The name resonated within his very heart, beating in a melody that felt unfamiliar now, like his pulse was not his own. The agony of the monsters and the darkened hallway fell away, into a quiet, comfortable darkness that was pleasant. He could feel himself falling away through nothingness, until the air gently pushed him upright and onto his feet. The ground was a shallow of pristine water, so clear that his own reflection was looking back at him. A ripple of water smoothed out to the edge of the platform, where the blackness towered high into a night sky full of stars.

Despite the sudden shift, Ienzo felt at ease. Somehow, he recognized this place, as if he had been here before in a far-off dream that he could not recall. The weight in his chest had disappeared altogether. His conscience was silent and at peace. The wounds he had sustained were gone.

Across the platform, a shadow appeared from wisps of darkness. It strode forward confidently, wearing a black cloak and a hood over his head. The stranger stopped feet away from Ienzo, who finally asked, "Who are you?"

The being merely unconcealed his face, revealing startling features that had been hidden underneath. It was Ienzo, standing before himself with different clothing. His face was sharp and null of any hint of emotion. His eyes were the same gray as his own, but strangely empty and distant, as if he could not see clearly.

"I am you." The clone said, its tone dull.

Ienzo merely shook his head. "No," He said, voice calm. "You're Zexion."

The other Ienzo simply raised one of his eyebrows. "So, you do remember."

"No." Ienzo struggled to find the right words. He had been so sure when he had said it, but now he felt like he did not truly understand the significance of the name. His mind went fuzzy and he held his hand to his head.

"Your memories are still missing, Ienzo." The clone approached him. "But, they will return soon." His footsteps ceased to disturb the water as he stopped in front of him. Ienzo managed to straighten and look at him once again, blinking hard when he saw double the clones.

"Who…" He stopped, he felt strangely ill and faint. "Who am I?"

The clone smiled, without happiness. His gaze held a hint of malicious intent. He grasped Ienzo's shoulders, stopping him from swaying. He held Ienzo upright and leaned forward to whisper in his ear.

"You are me."

The clone phased into Ienzo and disappeared. He screamed in agony as his veins seemed to burn with white hot fire every time his heart beat. He grasped his hair so tightly that he was surely pulling strands out of his scalp. His mind felt overwhelmed with hundreds of pictures that flashed across his vision in incomprehensible, tumbling waves. He fell to the floor hard, reawakening back in the school hallway with the creatures still coating him.

No…they were not mere creatures. They were worse than that; _heartless_.

His wounds continued to bleed and burn profusely. Ienzo felt something…something powerful and great pushing against his very skin, begging to be released from the confines of his bones. His blood boiled with a newfound energy that his body had never experienced before. He cried out when the heartless piled on his curled-up form, pressing down with all their might. Ienzo could hear the man calling his name; Zexion's name.

Ienzo did the only thing he could possibly do: he released his power.

In a hypnotizing swirl of black and violet, the heartless were cast backwards. They twitched and scrambled to their feet like a swarm of ants. Ienzo lay in the middle of the floor with a dark haze shivering around him. Scripture appeared out of thin air. Words and sentences with no sense of meaning or place cut through the hallway. Ienzo could not read what they said, as he was too exhausted to stay conscious much longer. The abrupt release of his energy had sapped away what had remained of his strength and left him weak.

The darkness danced across his body like a black flame. The floating sentences twisted around in the air, quickly substituting different words for others and numbers for roman numerals. Ienzo's foggy brain struggled to make sense of what they were saying. Then, the scripture shifted into many chain links that wrapped around the heartless one-by-one and squeezed their life away. The chains moved from one target to the next without mercy. The heartless dissipated into fragments of darkness that melded into the floor and faded away. Within moments, the room was barren.

Trembling and weak against the floor, Ienzo could only watch as the man approached him. As he got closer, Ienzo recognized him at once. He berated himself for being so blind before his memories had been restored.

"Ansem." He whispered.

Although time had weathered Ansem's youthfulness away, his eyes still held that familiar twinkle of light that had always contrasted his stark intellect. His straw blonde hair had grown even longer since Ienzo had last laid eyes on the man a lifetime ago as his young apprentice. His signature white cloak and crimson scarf hung loose on his thin, older frame.

Ansem crouched in front of him and took Ienzo's hand into his own. It was coated with deep red blood. Ienzo felt like his life was being sucked out of his wounds. His clothes were heavy and stuck against his exposed skin. He tried to move and hissed at once when a thousand pangs of agony ripped through his body. Ansem squeezed his hand in sympathy. Ienzo looked at his master desperately.

"It will be all right, Ienzo." Ansem's voice was total and sure, despite the situation. The creases on his face were the only features that dared to give away his concern for the youth. Ansem paused to focus, then a bright, white light radiated from the palm of his wrinkled hand and into Ienzo's. The warmth of the light seemed to flood his entire body with a calmness that was only comparable to a relaxing sedative, soaking away the pain as it traveled along his limbs and settled in the marrow of his bones.

A deep drowsiness took hold of Ienzo's remaining consciousness, and he felt that he could barely keep his eyes open. He watched the light between their linked hands with fascination. Ansem was observing him closely, and Ienzo noticed that his fingers were placed on the underside of his wrist once again, feeling for his pulse. Ansem smiled slightly, in what looked to be pure relief. He gazed back at Ienzo with content in his eyes.

"Sleep, Ienzo. When you awaken, the others will be waiting."

And just like that, Ienzo could no longer fight the heavy shroud that had fallen over his mind. He drifted off into a deep, dreamless slumber.

* * *

Please leave a review! I'm already working on the second chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

Ansem returned with him after weeks of absence. The boy was unconscious, covered in blood and gaping wounds that continued to ooze. They lifted the limp bundle from Ansem's arms and rushed to the infirmary. Knowing that their time was running short, the apprentices set to work on him right away.

Ienzo awakened in a dimly lit, foreign room. He groaned when he felt nausea rising in his throat as his face grew increasingly hot. He leaned over the bed just in time and retched onto the floor. Stomach acid dripped from his lips and he spit in disgust. He threw off the pristine linen covers that had been tucked around him and rolled up his sleeves. He felt like he was burning with fever. He used the back of his hand to wipe away the beads of sweat that glistened across his forehead.

He slid out of the bed, landing unsteadily on his feet. He gripped the side of the mattress like a vice as the floor started to sway back and forth. His mind felt fuzzy, and a sharp buzz in his ears was rising. He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself. The tiled floor felt ice cold against the soles of his feet.

Ienzo stumbled to a mirror that was stretched along the opposite wall, where several other tidy beds stood unoccupied. He pressed his forehead against the cool glass in relief. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, with dark bags hanging underneath them. His skin looked clammy and pale, accentuated more so by his long dark hair. Someone had taken the liberty of changing him out of his old clothing. The clean t-shirt and pants he presently wore felt itchy as the cotton rubbed against his irritated flesh. His arms were covered in puffy red scars that were in the process of healing. Shaking, he palpated his chest. A knot rose in his throat when he felt layers of bandages underneath.

So, he was really attacked.

He stepped back and swallowed the weight that was building inside his chest. All the memories were coming back to him at once. He could still feel the agony of a dozen talon-like claws piercing his flesh, and the weightlessness of darkness. Ienzo took a deep breath, then released it. Although his reflection looked back at him in the glass, he did not feel like himself.

He left the door wide open when he decided to leave the room. There was no sense in attempting to sneak around unnoticed; Ienzo knew that he had been saved from the heartless for a reason. Why else would Ansem seek him out? He shuddered and stopped in the middle of an ornate, magnificent hallway. On one side, the walls were gilded with gold and painted a deep maroon to match an intricately detailed ceiling that stretched up high above Ienzo's head. On the other, the wall was open to the outside world, which was darkened in the dead of night.

Ienzo made his way to one of several pillars that were dispersed among the edge of the open facing façade. He brushed his fingertips against the grainy column and allowed his eyes to close. A cool, refreshing breeze combed through his sweaty hair and caressed his flushed cheeks.

In a sudden flash of remembrance, he saw a crystal-clear vision bubble up in the forefront of his mind. Ienzo could see himself, standing in the exact same spot as he was now, only strikingly different. He was adorned in a black cloak, with his hood pushed back. His face was void of even an ounce of emotion as another breeze whipped at his clothes and teased the arrival of early autumn weather. He peered up at the night sky and watched the stars blink out, unfeeling.

Ienzo's eyes snapped open. He leaned heavily on the pillar as he tried to regain control of his rapid breath.

"Ienzo."

He knew that voice. Oh, it was so familiar that it shook him to his core. A thousand different emotions welled up inside his heart as he twisted around to face his friend, his fellow apprentice. Ienzo was unsurprised that the tall, foreboding man had not changed. Standing before him, with a shock of auburn hair and a steely gaze, was none other than Aeleus. His arms were crossed over his chest. He was wearing his old guard uniform; dark gray with silver buttons across the front and bright white gloves that covered his thick wrists. He seemed to be upset, but Ienzo knew Aeleus well, even after all these years apart. He could see a hint of relief beyond the rough contours of his face.

"We did not expect you to regain consciousness for some time." Aeleus said.

Ienzo, despite the feverish haze that had settled over him, managed a small smile. "I'm full of surprises."

Aeleus simply nodded, frowning when he noticed that Ienzo was leaning against the pillar heavily. "You are not well." He stepped forward and extended his hand, which Ienzo took after a moment's hesitation. He was amazed that Aeleus's skin felt real beneath his palm. It all still seemed to be a fantasy that he had dreamt the last night he fell asleep.

"Aeleus, how is all of this possible?" He asked, with beads of sweat continuing to gather on his forehead. Just when he felt like the floor was tilting again, two hands caught his shoulders and steadied him. Ienzo raised his head, watching Aeleus with glassy eyes.

"I'll go retrieve Ansem. He can explain it all to you properly."

With baby steps, they started back towards the infirmary. Aeleus kept his hands on Ienzo the entire trek back through the hall. Ienzo's mind swam the entire time. He tried to open his mouth to speak, but his tongue refused to move. He was sure he was about to black out when they finally reached his bed. He collapsed into the white linens, shaking and out of breath.

"Why," He swallowed, desperate to get the words out. "W-Why am I like this?"

Aeleus flicked on a bed lamp and placed a porcelain bowl on the bedside table. He wrung out a damp washcloth in silence, while Ienzo looked on. Aeleus simply shook his head. "Ansem will be here soon." He raised Ienzo's pillow and gently pushed him back against it. The rag was laid over Ienzo's burning forehead, and the cool relief of the chilled water was bliss. "In the meanwhile, rest."

Ienzo nodded, but he did not close his eyes until Aeleus had left the room.

0-0-0

He awoke to the sound of paper being turned over in a book. Ienzo's eyes snapped open and there, sitting by his bed, was none other than Ansem himself. Ienzo felt foolish for not recognizing him before. His hair was still long, blonde, and his face held those soft wrinkles around his mouth that held a thousand timeless smiles within. He felt overwhelmed with a fond, child-like adoration that he had not experienced since he was a young boy.

The scene played out in front of him like an old recording: clear, perfect, and full of painful memories. He saw himself as a child, eight years-old and fresh out of the orphanage, holding hands with Ansem. They walked through the same grand, long hallways that the castle held today, devouring sea salt ice cream together. His tiny hand was encased in Ansem's, and they walked with leisure. It reminded him of a carefree and happier time, when darkness was only a bad dream. Ienzo's monsters had not existed yet, but they would soon.

"Are you reminiscing the past, Ienzo?"

Ienzo blinked, and the vision was gone. He sat up in the bed and stared at Ansem, who had closed a leather-bound novel that lay on his lap. Ienzo stared at him, trying to sort out the rising feelings that he felt for the man he had once called his father.

"I don't understand who I am." He whispered.

Ansem was quiet for a moment, before he sat forward with interest. "What do you remember?"

Ienzo shook his head in vain. He felt as if his memories were slipping through his fingers. "I remember some things, from our past." He ventured. "I saw Zexion."

"And what can you recall about him?" Ansem's eyes held a glint of enthusiasm. He was attentive, yet unbelievably patient as Ienzo attempted to put together his scattered memories. But, it was ultimately useless. His mind was a great puzzle that was missing over half the pieces.

"We…" Ienzo paused, placing his hand over his breast and taking comfort in the familiar beat underneath. "We did not have hearts." He exhaled it out in one lasting breath, as if the words held a leaden weight tied onto every letter. For some reason, he felt overcome with guilt. "The only thing I can really remember is nothingness." He said, then, wincing, "The feeling of nothing."

Ansem was silent. He seemed to be taking in Ienzo's every word. At last, he sighed and sat back. "Who are you now, Ienzo or Zexion?"

"Ienzo." He said, without question. The answer felt real, but he found himself holding back. What would Ansem had done if he had said the opposite? He pushed back the thought and decided to entertain the idea at a later time. There were more important matters to attend to, as well as a dozen questions that he was aching to ask.

"What's happening to me?"

"Well," Ansem began, seemingly at a loss of where to begin his theory. "Your memories of your present school life were fabricated when you were reborn again. Although, we are not sure how this pseudo cognizance developed. Your state of mind was rewired and tampered with, causing you to acquire a semi-false persona as an average college student."

Ienzo blinked in surprise. "Someone botched my memories?"

Ansem nodded. "And they were quite thorough, too. You had the ideal apartment, a list of classes, and even a new identity to adopt. Someone took great care to hide you from us." He shrugged and tapped the cover of his book with his pointer finger. "Obviously, we found you regardless of their effort, but it took a long time."

Despite Ansem's nonchalance, he looked troubled. Who could have possibly targeted him? The most concerning matter was that Ienzo could not remember anything at all.

He leaned back into the pillows, thinking. Ansem watched him carefully, content to simply observe. Ienzo felt like he had lived three lives, and he had - in a sense. He had been born as a human, turned into a Nobody, and reborn as Ienzo once again. But, he could only recall fragments of his past. All the other bits were missing. He felt lost, and even hopeless.

"Ansem," He finally spoke after an eternity. The cloth on his head felt too warm; the fluorescent light of the lamp too bright. "Why are we here?" He raised his hands, examined his fingers move. "Why am I like this?"

"It is…complicated, this illness that ails you is only natural, and the others went through a similar experience, although not as bad. Your body is catching up to you lightning fast. As a Nobody, you had no need for a heart, but you still retained somewhat of a soul. It is a difficult matter." He trailed off, searching for the right words. Ienzo held on to every syllable with bated breath.

"Imagine your soul divided into a million fragments, glued together by only the threads that bind them to a living being." He pointed at him. "That is your soul as a Nobody. When your heart fell into the darkness, it was quite literally eaten away, until there was nothing left to support a breathing body.

As a Nobody, you may have been 'alive,' but you were only a phantom of your former self. Your form was animate and as real as I am now, and your soul was the only source of light that kept you alive. Otherwise, every Nobody in the Organization would have vanished long ago. That is where heartless, and Nobodies differ. Heartless have neither a heart nor a soul to sustain them, while Nobodies do. Except, of course, for lesser Nobodies, which are neither sentient nor alive.

However, you are different, Ienzo. Unlike the other apprentices, your memories were tampered with by an unknown party. While you all must go through an ill period while your soul mends, yours is doubly worsened by your amnesia."

Ienzo's eyes widened. "The-The others?" He couldn't possibly mean…

Ansem smiled, albeit a bit forced. "Yes, the apprentices are back together. Well, besides Xehanort. His soul is far beyond the reach of the light." He sighed and stood from his chair, carrying his novel under his arm. His eyes would no longer meet Ienzo's wandering gaze. Instead, Ansem seem to be preoccupied with other, more pressuring thoughts. "I've left you with plenty to ponder over for the night. I'm going to send Aeleus to check on you again in the morning."

Ienzo wondered why he would leave so suddenly. He felt like they had only touched the tip of an iceberg of information. Ansem had brushed off his most persistent question: why have the apprentices been suddenly resurrected once again? Under the cool guise that Ansem had managed to uphold the entire conversation was a man on the very edge of hits wits. He had changed as soon as Xehanort's name had left his lips.

"Ansem!" Ienzo cried. He leaned forward, ignoring the black spots that danced across his vision from the abrupt movement. He blinked them back furiously and slid out of the sheets. He concentrated on walking forward as his lightheadedness returned with a vengeance. He stopped feet from Ansem.

Although Ansem was turned away from him, he had paused mid step in the door frame. Ienzo had been afraid to ask something for quite a while, and he thought that he should finally do it before he lost his nerve. If something as simple as a name could affect his demeanor so quickly…

"Do you hate us for our betrayal?" He whispered, eyes cast downward. He was unable to look at the man any longer. Although he had only been a child back then, he had managed to fall into Xehanort's enticing trap as well. He had blindly followed the silver haired man into inescapable darkness. Until his heart was returned to him, along with his broken memories, Ienzo had never really been able to properly consider the weight of his actions when they were Ansem's apprentices. His shoulders were bowed under the weight of his mounting guilt. Ienzo briefly wondered if the weight would only continue to grow as his memories gradually returned.

He could hear the soft footfalls of Ansem's shoes against the carpet as he approached him. Ienzo kept his eyes locked onto his bare feet, trying hard to keep his focus on the curves of his toes.

Then, Ansem's hand was on his shoulder, and his head snapped up at such a gentle gesture. Ansem was inches away from him, his face wrought with so much emotion that Ienzo was taken aback. He had expected him to yell and beat him down with his words; words that he would have rightfully deserved to hear for the first time. However, Ansem's grip only tightened, as if he was afraid that if he let go, Ienzo would disappear.

"Ienzo," He said, voice gruff with an insurmountable amount of grief. He inhaled deeply, gathering his thoughts and emotions into a ball, and released them in one great breath. "You are the least to blame out of all of this."

0-0-0

When he left, Ienzo lay alone in bed and dreamt about when he was a small child, hand-in-hand with Ansem the Wise.


End file.
